As envisioned back in 1976, the inhabitants of space settlements such as that of the Stanford Torus would live in a nearly completely recycling scenario. The agricultural areas would receive biowastes and CO2 generated by the people there, and convert it back to food and breathable air.

A similar principle would function in these space habitats, even though they are not nearly as isolated as would have been the original L5 location space settlements. Civilization needs to take responsibility for all its waste products, since nature is not designed to be able to recycle the toxic wastes created by civilization's technologies.

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